Portable boot-blacking device.



No. 65|,446 Patented June 12-, I900.

H. L. PUTMAN.

PORTABLE BOOT BLACKING DEVICE (Application filed June 10, 1899.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY L. PUTMAN, OF ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI.

PORTABLE BOOT-BLACKING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,446, dated June 12, 1900.

Application filed June 10, 1899. Serial No. 720,111. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY L. PUTMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Joseph, in the county of Buchanan and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Boot-Blacking-Devices; and I do declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in portable boot-blacking devices; and the objects of my improvements are, first, to provide a device that may be moved with ease from one locality to another; second, that will be sufficiently commodious to comfortably seat and protect a person from exposure; third, that can be opened or closed and the roof or top of which can be raised or lowered at will; fourth, that being provided with a bicycle wheel and saddle and a push-handle the operator is enabled to move the device any distance quickly without the fatigue of walking or may push it if he so desires, and, fifth, that provides a foot-rest the clamps of which will hold the foot in position. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in WhlCl1 Figure 1 is a perspective view of myinvention; Fig. 2, a vertical section thereof in which the weights and tubes are shown'exposed; Fig. 3, a cross section through a pocket; Fig. 4, a perspective View of a tele scope-tube; Fig. 5, a side elevation of my device With top down and the apparatus closed; Fig. 6, a view of the push-handle of my device, and Fig. 7 a side View of the handle.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The body of mydevice is a booth nearly or quite four-square in form, having a bottom or floor A, sides B B, a front 0, hinged at the floor, with an upper division or leaf 0. Both divisions of the front are hinged to drop for ward when unlocked, the leaf 0 being adapted to drop vertically and form a support for the top of the lower division 0, a brace 0 holding it in position. Two partitions D D extend from the front to the back E of the booth. The sides B Band end boards a a constitute an oblong box or inclosure in each side of the booth. These boxes are divided by cross-partitions D D. In each end of each of these oblong boxes is an upright socket F, rigidly attached at its base to floor A. Within these sockets are tubes H H, having closed lower ends and adapted to be carried up and down by pulleys and weights and their mountings I I, Fig. 2. Arms J J, rigidly attached to these tubes and Working in the sockets through slots h h, take hold upon the pulley-ropes. These tubes are thus raised and lowered in a somewhat-similar manner to that in which the ordinary window is raised and lowered. Within tubes H H there are rods K K, which support the top L of the booth. These rods are readily shoved up and drawn down into the tubes, and the height at which they are adjusted is regulated by use of thumbscrews 7c. Shades M M, mounted upon spring-rollers and attached to top L at sides and rear, are used for the purpose of closing the open spaces left at the sides and back of the booth when the top is raised. A seat N, the top of which may be hinged or made removable to allow the space below it to be utilized for storage of blacking, brushes, or other articles, is fitted into a part of the space between boxes D D. A'foot-rest O, with two foot-clamps 0 0 and thumb-screws o o to regulate the same, is rigidly attached on the inside of front 0, which front when down serves as the platform of the device. The booth is supported by an axle and its Wheels P P and a bicycle or steering wheel S with its pedal and post and a bar T, connecting said wheel and post with the booth. This bar may be fastened to the booth by bolt or in any convenient way that will permit it to be easily and quickly disconnected. This part of the device, as shown in Fig. 5, is provided Witha saddle and hand-bar. To serve as a support when wheel S and bar T are detached, extension-legs V V are attached on the sides of the booth near its rear. When it is desired to remove the device from one street or locality to another, the booth being closed, as shown in Fig. 5, the individual in charge simply mounts the saddle and steers to the locality desired. To avoid occupying much space, he readily detaches bar T and wheel S, shoves the booth against a building or in other convenient place, drops extension-legs V V to support the rear of the booth during the removal of the bicycle-wheel, unlocks and drops front 0 and its leaf or support 0', raises top L to the desired height by use of pulleys and weights carrying up tubes H H, elevates the roof still more, if desired, by shoving up rods K K, and draws down rear and side curtains M M. The device is thus quickly made ready for those who may desire their footwear polished.

If the operator for any reason desires to dispense with the use of the bicyele-wheelattaehment, he can readily attach push-handle Y, with its attached supporting-arm Y and thumb-screw X, to regulate the angle at which the arm shall be held, and then push the device to any locality desired.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a portable boot-blacking device, the combination, with the front, back and floor, of two upright oblong boxes forming sides for said body and serving as inelosures for the mechanism used to raise and lower the adjustable top of said device, substantially as set forth and described.

2. In a portable device for blacking boots and shoes, in a combination, an adjustable roof, the sockets and their slots, the tubes and rigidly-attached arms working in said slots and the connected ropes, pulley-wheels, weights and mounting-stands, the rods operatin g in said tubes and thumb-screws operating 011 said rods through the tubes for the purpose of regulating the height of the roof, substantially as set forth.

3. In a portable boot-blacking device, the combination, with the floor, sides, back and divided hinged front and adjustable canopytop and the mechanism to raise and lower the same, of a rigidly-attached axle across the bottom of the booth carrying a wheel at each end, a detachable bar, a steering-wheel, and its pedal, and post, and saddle for the rider back of the device, and extension-legs at the side, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

at. In a portable boot-blacking device, in a combination, with a four-square box-shaped structure having a hinged horizontally-divided side and without a top, of a covering and mechanism for raising and lowering the same and shades for closing the openings at the back and sides when the covering is raised, and serving as a top to said box when not in use and a canopy for the booth when in use, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

5. In a portable boot-blacking device in a combination with a box-shaped structure having three sides and the bottom rigidly united, its front hinged at the floor and fan upper hinged section thereto, the lower section thereof adapted to be folded out horizontally as a platform and support for a foot-rest, and the upper section to be folded in a vertical position as a front support for the platform, the oblong boxes within said device at its sides and the mechanism within said boxes consisting of a socket rigidly attached to the floor at each end of said oblong divisions, provided with slots h h, the tubes and rods and arms attached to said tubes and thumbscrews therein, the conneeting-ropes, pulleywheels, weights and mounting-stands, and the canopy-top serving as a shelter when said device is in use and as a closely-fitting top for said box structure when not in use and which topis raised and lowered and its height regulated by the mechanism within said oblong box, substantially as set forth.

6. In a portable boot-blacking device the combination with the box proper of an adjustable front 0 hinged at the floor and provided with an upper hinged section O suited to fold down verticallyand support the lower section as a platform, the partitions D D and the oblong boxes formed thereby, a rigidlyfastened upright socket F in each end of said oblong boxes and provided with slots h h, the tubes [I H and the arms J J, the weights and mountings I I connected with said arms, rods K K operating in said tubes, the top or canopy L rigidly attached at its four corners on the upper-ends of said rods and supported by them, its shades 1\:[ M and extension-legs V V, the axle and its wheels I" I, the detachable bicycle steering-wheel S and the pedal, post and saddle and bar T by which to attach said wheel to the body of the device, and extension-legsV V to serve as a support when the steering-wheel is detached, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

7. In a portable boot-blacking device, the combination, with the base, of an upright socket in each corner of the body of the device, provided with slots in the sides, the tubes and the arms taking hold upon said tube through said slots and the ropes, the wheels, the standards and the weights having connection with said arms for raising and lowering said. tubes, the adjustable rods within said tubes and their screws and the booth-top carried on the rods, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY L. PUTMAN.

\Vitnesses:

F. LABRUNERIE, EMMA HECKEL. 

